Women of NASA is the next LEGO Ideas model [News]

Announced today, the Women of NASA project by Maia Weinstock is the next set in the Ideas line. This project was selected from a group of 11 other ideas that had gathered 10,000 supporters between the months of May and September 2016. Pricing and availability for the Women of NASA set are not yet available.

LEGO Ideas Blog interviewed Maia in December 2016, where she talked about her inspiration and process, creating her successful project. You can read more of the interview at the LEGO Ideas blog.

Additionally, the LEGO Review Board is still considering the Voltron – Defenders of the Universe project. They plan on sharing an update with the third 2016 Review Results update.

Legos always had a fascist sort of beauty. Every minifigure was interchangeable. Being a scientist or a firefighter or a policeman just meant putting on the corresponding uniform. Now Lego licenses all sorts of characters, and worst of all makes celebrity sets like these. The liberal utopia is being ripped apart by the clashing ideas of trying to simultaneously be diverse and equal at the same time.

I never heard of a men’s rights advocate going over to Barbie and telling them, “Hey, you guys have to stop using so much pink”. These people are sociopathic killjoy agitators. They don’t care about making good Lego sets. They see people having fun, and they have to destroy it, so we can all be as miserable as they are.

I have to say I’m becoming more and more disappointed by the entire LEGO Ideas platform.

I’m happy this set is becoming a reality, I have nothing against it. But it is a fairly simple idea, simple design with simple models that got selected purely on its premise and current political and social trends, not its design creativity.

The sheer amount of really really good projects that are rejected is just starting to sour the entire concept. Yes some of the ideas are a bit grandiose, but they are really good and deserve better. Is it easier to absorb the LEGO ideas cost in a $200-$300 UCS level item or to have to sell what should be about a $30-$40 dollar set for $60 to cover all the extra time involved throughout the process?

Maybe they should revise their strategy to select one set for like 3 different skill levels each round. A simple theme design (small scale animals, show promotional type product, etc), a basic mid level product you would see at any typical retail box store, and then a UCS level item.

I think what disappoints people is that some of these models aren’t being voted for by Lego fans. A campaign starts, publicised in certain parts of the media and people with no interest in Lego vote.

The idea is pretty much a clone of the Research Institute, and it’s a bit of a missed opportunity in regards depicting men in non-action orientated roles, considering that Lego have never depicted a famous (real-life) male scientist.

For ever such a lot of sets Lego go to great lengths to make lots of male and female minifigures (particularly in the City line), the licensed sets are a problem (and I like many Star Wars fans would like it if Princess Leia wasn’t a rarity in the sets). It’s a shame the gender balancing goes out of the window for these Ideas sets.

Famous people of Nasa, and have 3 men and 3 women. Now that would be positive and would show men and women as equals.

Girls should feel insulted that Lego is pandering to them this way. How many female employees does Lego have, besides the receptionists? Zero female designers. It’s very dishonest. Lego has become so corporate and calculating. They fully embrace this sterile ethos of one world, one product for all mankind. How do they plan to market their Technic line to girls?

Legos are supposed to be about imagination, a world where anything is possible. This is what you come up with? How utterly uninteresting. Boys play to escape the dull drudgery of reality, not to get beat over the head by angry feminists intent on dragging us down and trying to shame us with male guilt. We get that from our schools, our media, our moms, etc… We don’t need it in our Legos too.

I love, love, love this idea. Why should boys have all the fun? Girls have been sidelined by competition, in our overly aggressive male culture. Legos are the perfect medium for teaching them cooperative play. This will help. Business doesn’t have to be heartless.

Lego toys should never have become a battle ground for this kind of nonsense. Women attacking Lego for not marketing their toys for girls should first realize what that makes them look like. If you are so swayed by advertisements and marketing, that doesn’t give off a very strong vibe. Buy what is interesting to you, not what you feel is begin pandered to you through marketing.
Second, realize that many, many of the Lego group’s toys are replications of real world things. City, Technic, Architecture, Creator, Winter Village, Duplo, Juniors, and many exclusives. So before you go after Lego, why don’t you go after those evil people who made trucks look the way they do and helicopters so non-appealing to girls!!
Third you have to realize that these people will never be happy. They attack because it’s an identity they’ve created for themselves, and if whatever it is they want Lego to turn into ever came true (much of it , if not all of it has already come to pass) they would still find fault.
Lego has created extensive lines marketed exclusively to girls, and yet we still see stupid comments about sexism in the Lego Group, or sorties of schools banning Lego.
Ultimately this set is boring. Having noting to do with the fact all the figs are women. This is a poor choice for Lego, and a dangerous step down the road to catering to minority groups that shout the loudest.
If they let political, or cultural trends, or the fear of offending small groups of people or begin marketing and pandering to their opposition, then they have not only let themselves down, but also their entire fan base.
Their mission to “inspire the builders of tomorrow,” rings pretty hollow if they let their own set designers creativity get cut from under them by the sword of discontented crybabies.

WARNING: Many of our readers commenting on this news topic are skirting very close to violations of our Terms of Service. Remember that you’re part of a global community of diverse builders, not a frat house. Check your chauvinism, privilege, and bigotry at the door when you navigate to Brothers-Brick.com. It will not be tolerated here.

Obvious attempt by Lego to terminate the Ideas concept. I feel bad for the truly creative people who submitted real ideas. Andrew… Out of 18 people who commented, can you specify the “many” who skirted violating the terms of service? After reading the TOS, I wasn’t able to identify anyone near violation.

How does this deserve to be a set over the others chosen for review. zero play value? minifig box set? Congrats to the designer but I would prefer to see another yellow submarine, delorian or exosuit rather than this…

People of Nasa might have been a more sensible set if this idea was to be made. The longer we highlight the divide the longer it remains an issue surely?

I am really happy for this set. It strikes exactly the right chord at the right time.

And, as always, time and again, it makes me sad that so many men feel the need to whine and complain whenever women get recognized, in whatever way, shape or form. It’s childish, unnecessary and profoundly tiring.

We don’t accept projects that request only LEGO Minifigures, a new LEGO Minifigure series, LEGO Minifigures with accessories, “battle packs,” or “army builders.” We only consider Minifigures as a part of a set that includes a substantial LEGO model.

Keith, I think that we are unable to read the comments from people who violated the TOS as they were moderated. I think the overtly naughty ones were not published as a wide range of people read this and while diverse opinions are welcome, those that are rude and hostile are not. I think it’s best to keep it that way :-)

If you want a copy, you’ve got about four months to get into Jovian orbit and pry the thing off the satellite before it plummets into the depths of Jupiter’s atmosphere.

@Elspeth:
Having sat through a rather torturous keynote speech by a woman who was involved in literally every single failed attempt by LEGO to capture the attention of the girls market (and most notably _not_ involved in the one attempt that finally succeeded a couple years after her speech, or so I hear), I simply could not believe that there was not a single female set designer. I’m only slightly less doubtful of the idea that there is but a single female designer and am going to assume that you only listed the first name you could chase down rather than trying to compile the entire list. The truth is, there are only a tiny handful of LEGO designers whose names are known within the AFOL community, and foremost among them are those who were actually part of the AFOL community before being hired. From various interviews and articles over the years, it sounds like each designer may work on anywhere from 1-3 different themes at the same time, with anywhere from half a dozen to a full dozen designers working on any individual theme. And there are a _lot_ of themes. If there are less than 100 designers in total, I’d be shocked, and I suspect it would be more to the tune of 200-500 across the entire company.

@Purple Dave. The previous poster said there were ‘zero female designers’. I only have to mention one name to prove that their statement is inaccurate. I’ll leave it to you to type a huge paragraph achieving no more than I did.

I’m surprised – and a little disappointed – how controversial this set seems to be. A lot of people seem to be assuming it was only picked because it starred women – perhaps they believed a smaller, simpler set would do better in sales? There’s enough fun little sciencey greebles in the ideas picture, I might pick up an extra copy or two. I definitely don’t have the disposable income to buy a couple Voltrons or Observatories, and I wonder how many die-hard fans of Spaceballs or Little House would have to have a copy of those.